Redfern Railway Wreck - 31 October 1894



 

Redfern Railway Station, publ. by Kerry & Co., 1884-1906

The first train crash in NSW history resulting in double digit fatalities occurred on this day in 1894. In total 13 people were killed when a Goulburn bound train leaving Redfern station collided with an incoming local train from Strathfield at 9.30am. Among the dead was Edward Lloyd Jones, director of the David Jones department store, the world's oldest department store continously trading under it's original name.

The driver of the country train was charged with manslaughter for allegedly disobeying a stop signal. However, he maintained his innocence, claiming the signal had been set in his favour and was found not guilty by the jury. It was later determined that the accident occurred because of a number of factors including clocks being too fast, the signalman being unwell and a mistake occurring in the signaling.

Elsewhere in the world, Martin Luther pre-empted Facebook and used a church door to "post" his 95 theses on the "wall" (Wittenberg, 1517), Arthur Conan Doyle published "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1892), a world record heatwave of 160 consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures above 100F (37.8C) started in Marble Bar/Western Australia (1923), the Mount Rushmore Monument was finally completed after 14 years of construction (1941), Queen released "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975), Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated (1985), World Population hit 7 billion (2011).

Some famous birthdays of the day include the long time Leader of the Kuomintang and President of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-Shek (Fenghua/Zhejiang, 1887), German-Australian photographer Helmut Newton (Berlin, 1920), "Miss Ellie" Barbara Bel Geddes (New York, 1922), as well as the Italian Olympic swimmer [Helsinki, 1952 and Melbourne, 1956] and actor Carlo Pedersoli, better known as Bud Spencer (Naples, 1929). Amongst the deaths of the day is also the famous Hungarian-born magician Erik Weisz, aka Harry Houdini (Detroit/Michigan, 1926), who died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix.

Declaration of a Desert Town - 30 October 1890

Following John McDouall Stuart's explorations between 1857 and 1862, the Overland Telegraph Line and camel train route through Northern South Australia led to the foundation of a township near the Simpson Desert, roughly 1000km North of Adelaide on this day in 1890.

Oodnadatta, derived from the aboriginal word "utnadata" (mulga blossom), became the terminus of the Great Northern Railway Line, later renamed "The Ghan", until the line was extended to Alice Springs in 1929. In 1981 the railway line was moved further West and since 2003 runs all the way North to Darwin.

Today the town is famous for the Oodnadatta Track, a popular 620km unsealed outback road between Marla on the Stuart Highway and Marree, where it connects with the Birdsville Track., which crosses two deserts and leads to southern Queensland. Oodnadatta has a population of just under 300, half of which are Aboriginal Australians, and survives mainly thanks to tourists travelling the track and mining nearby.

Elsewhere in the world, Henry VII of England, first of the Tudor dynasty, was crowned king (1485). Prince William of Denmark arrived in Athens to assume the Greek throne as King George I, 7 months after his election (1863), the city of Helena in Montana was founded after the discovery of gold (1864), the first successful kidney transplant was peformed (Edinburgh/UK, 1960), Europe and Asia were for the first time connected through the Bosporus Bridge (Istanbul/Turkey, 1973), Muhammad Ali and George Foreman battled it out in Kinshasa/Zaire during the "Rumble In The Jungle" (1974) and the rebuilt Frauenkirche was reconsecrated 60 years after its destruction during WW2 (Dresden/Germany, 2005).

Born on this day were, amongst others, John Adams, the 2nd US President (Braintree/Massachusetts, 1735), Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Moscow/Russia, 1821) and Diego "Hand-of-God" Maradona (Buenos Aires/Argentina, 1960).

30 Years on - The Chamberlain Dingo Mystery

On 29 October 1982 Lindy Chamberlain was convicted for the murder of her daughter Azaria in August 1980 at a campsite near Uluru. Her claims that a dingo had taken the baby were not believed and she was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Dingo on Fraser Island, photo: Sam Fraser-Smith

All appeals remained fruitless until in 1986 pieces of Azaria's clothing were found in a dingo den inside the national park. Lindy was released from prison and later cleared of all charges against her. A final and fourth coronial inquest in June 2012 ruled that the baby's death was caused by a dingo and after 32 years the death certificate was amended accordingly.

Elsewhere in the world, Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni" was performed for the first time in Prague, while the First Fleet was en route to Botany Bay (1787), the International Red Cross was formed in Geneva (1863), Ned Kelly was sentenced to hang in Melbourne (1880), after Egypt nationalised the Suez Canal, Israel invaded Sinai, starting the "Suez Crisis" (1956), Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won his first professional fight (Louisville/Kentucky, 1960), the first computer-to-computer-link was established on ARPANET, the precursor to the internet (1969) and Meat Loaf released the "Bat Out Of Hell" (1977).

Henry III, aka Henry the Pious, Holy Roman Emperor, and King of Germany, Burgundy and Italy was born on this day 995 years ago. Also born on this day were Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels (1897), British blues rock guitarrist Peter Allen Greenbaum, aka Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac fame (London, 1946) and Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar (Voorhout/Netherlands, 1970).
Conradin, last member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, King of Jerusalem and Sicily, last Duke of Swabia, together with Frederick of Baden was executed on this day, just 16 years of age (Naples/Italy, 1268).

Massacre on the Murray River, WA - 28 October 1834

Some call it the "Battle of Pinjarra", which occurred in this place some 80km South of Perth in Western Australia on this day 178 years ago. Given the unbalanced distribution of weaponry and the outcome of this incident that choice of words can safely be regarded as playing down the actual events of the day.


Murray River near Pinjarra, Western Australia

After repeated calls by white settlers of the area for protection from local Aboriginals, Governor James Stirling led a group of 25 soldiers and settlers to attack an encampment of Pindjarrep people, who fled into the bush but were later ambushed at a river crossing of the Murray River. According to settler accounts, 1 soldier died, another was wounded and between 10-80 Aboriginals were killed, including women and children. Aboriginal oral tradition speaks of up to 150 casualities...

Elsewhere in the world, Harvard University was founded in Cambridge/Massachusetts (1638), the United Tribes of New Zealand declared independence (1835), St. Louis Police trialled a new investigation method: fingerprinting (1904), Czechoslovakia gained independence for the first time in 300 years (1918), Benito Mussolini took over the Italian government (1922), John XXIII got elected Pope (1958) and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced the withdrawal of Soviet nuclear installations in Cuba, thus bringing an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962).

Today's birthdays include Microsoft founder Bill Gates (Seattle/Washington, 1955), Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Aradan/Iran, 1957), Italian musician and songwriter Eros Ramazzotti (Rome/Italy, 1963) and US actress Julia Roberts (Atlanta/Georgia, 1967).
The English philosopher and Father of Classical Liberalism, John Locke, died in Essex on this day (1704).

Constantine's Vision of the Cross - 27 October 312

It was 1700 years ago today, that Constantine had a vision of christ's cross on the eve of the Battle of the Milvina Bridge in Rome. He had the Chi Rho monogramm added tro all shields before the battle.

Having fought "under the protection of the cross", he won the battle, gained control of the whole Roman Empire and subsequently paved the way for Christianity to spread throughout the empire and ultimately become the dominant religion in Europe. 
 
Elsewhere in the world, Amsterdam was founded on this day (1275), as was Philadelphia (1682), the first New York Subway line went into operation (1904) and the British carried out nuclear test Totem 2 in Emu Fields, South Australia (1953).

James Cook, the first European to discover Australia's East Coast was born in Marton (present day Middlesborough)/England (1728), 26th US President Theodore Rosevelt (New York City, 1858), John 'Basil Fawlty' Cleese (Weston-super-Mare/England, 1939) and the Oscar winning Italian actor and director Roberto Benigni (Manciano/Italy, 1952).
 

Rock Returned to Rightful Owners

On 26 October 1985, the world famous Central Australian monolith Uluru, aka Ayers Rock, was returned to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines, the Anangu, on condition that it would be leased back to the National Parks and Wildlife Services for 99 years under joint management.

The fist European to discover the rock was South Australian Surveyor William Gosse in 1873. He named it in honour of the then South Australian Premier Sir Henry Ayers, whereas the aboriginal name is believed to mean either "Great Pebble" or "Meeting Place". It is 348m high, measures over 9km in circumference and is visited by approximately half a million tourists each year. While it is not forbidden to climb the rock, "we prefer that, as a guest on Aṉangu land, you will choose to respect our law and culture by not climbing".  

Elsewhere in the world, Norway gained independence from Sweden (1905), the Battle of Leyte (Philippines) ended with a resounding American victory (1944), the first commercial Boeing 707 flew for PanAm from New York to Paris (1958), the last criminal in Western Australia was hanged (1964), British rock band Queen and David Bowie recorded  the hit single "Under Pressure" (Montreux/Switzerland, 1981) and Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty (1994).

Prominent birthdays on this day include former French president Francois Mitterand (Jarnac/France, 1916), current US Secretary of State and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (Chicago/Illinois, 1947), Australian country music star (and Nicole Kidman's husband) Keith Urban (Whangarei/New Zealand, 1967) and the first Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian (Selangor/Malaysia, 1980).

First European Setting Foot on Australia Westcoast

Cape Inscription, Dirk Hartog Island, W.A.

On 25 October 1616, Dutch Captain Dirk Hartog struck land while on his way from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia aboard the Dutch cargo ship "Eendracht". He left an inscripted plaque behind, named the place after his ship "Eendrachtsland" and continued sailing North to Dutch East India.
 
What Hartog had found was actually the biggest and western most island of Western Australia. It is now named Dirk Hartog Island and its northernmost point is known as Cape Inscription.
 
Elsewhere in the world, George III became King of England (1760), the Russian Tzar got kicked out of the Winter Palace - at least according to the Julian calendar - (St. Petersburg/Russia, 1917), Nelson Mandela was sentenced to 5 years in prison (1962) and the US launched Operation Urgent Fury and invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada (1983).

The King of Waltz, Johann Strauss II, ("The Blue Danube", "Die Fledermaus") was born in St. Ulrich/Austria (1825), Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, better known as Georges Bizet, the composer of "Carmen" (Paris, 1838), Pablo Picasso (Malaga/Spain, 1881), Bart Simpson's voice Nancy Cartwright (Dayton/Ohio, 1957) and "I Kissed A Girl" Katy Perry (Santa Barbara/California, 1985).